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in: Characters (BJ1), Living Characters (BJ1), Characters (BJ:M),
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Delia Deetz

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Delia Deetz is the wife of Charles Deetz and stepmother of Lydia Deetz.

Beetlejuice (movie)[]

History (BJ1)[]

Personality (BJ1)[]

Delia is portrayed as a demanding and emotional creative. Her determination to succeed as a modern artist drives her to be a social climber, though it is clear by the reactions of others that she is not taken seriously. She struggles to maintain her previous lifestyle, criticizing her husband Charles for uprooting the family's life in the city, and her stepdaughter, Lydia, for her gloomy persona and constant complaining. Delia herself can rather self-absorbed and is currently preoccupied with the struggle of making herself comfortable in her new environment. While it is clear that she loves her family, she does not necessarily take them seriously, especially when Lydia starts talking about ghosts.

Upon arriving in Winter River, she immediately begins to redesign and renovate the country house into something that is more in tune with her personal tastes. This put her at odds with Charles, who is content with the house the way the Maitlands left it. She aggressively argues that he must compromise on the remodel in exchange for her agreement to live in it. However, she is content to allow the study to remain untouched to give Charles a space that he controls.

Throughout the film, Delia does not appear to appreciate humor when it comes to her art. Every time people around her laugh, Delia looks momentarily stricken, then she looks around to confirm that something funny just happened, and then she finally joins in with a fake little chuckle.

When Delia discovers that their home is haunted, she is not scared due to the amusing way the Maitlands attempted to frighten her. Instead, she attempts to use the revelation as a way to connect with her friends and business manager. She shows little concern for the Maitlands, who are already dead. This cynicism leads her to allow Otho to attempt at forcing contact with the ghosts.

Once she realizes that the Maitlands are suffering from Otho's use of "The Handbook for the Recently Deceased," she demands he stop, but everyone is out of their depth. Beetlejuice brings Delia's sculptures to life and they imprison Delia and her husband. They helplessly watch in horror as Beetlejuice tries to force Lydia to marry him, and she is grateful to the Maitlands when they rescue her and banish Beetlejuice.

After this incident, Delia is shown to be content to share the house with the Maitlands, even using her experience with Beetlejuice as the basis for a sculpture that is far more intricate and personal than her former work. She uses this same sculpture to prank Charles, indicating that she is developing a sense of humor.

Gallery (BJ1)[]

Beetlejuice (musical)[]

Beetlejuice (animated series)[]

Personality (BJ:AS)[]

Like in the live-action movie, Delia is an eccentric sculptor and an artist. A running gag inspired by a joke in the movie has her show Charles Deetz a sculpture or other work of art she made and assumes he likes it after the work of art scares him. She also acts a lot like a stereotypical sweet, but overprotective mother, and wants her daughter to abandon her interests in scary, other-worldly things and focus on more "normal" things for a girl her age. She is also very sensitive, as shown when she adopted Beetlejuice (who at the time was stuck in the form of a dog whose name was Odeious) and was heartbroken when he ran away. Despite somewhat physically resembling Wilma Flinstone, some of Delia's habits, such as her red hair, poor cooking skills and self-absorbed Yuppie personality, resemblance that of Married with Children matriarch Peg Bundy,

Oddly, Delia also seems to enjoy the Neitherworld. When the Deetzes travel there, she always has a good time. Notably, her bizarre art is also very popular among the ghosts of Neitherwords. The Monster Across The Street buys one of her sculptures, and she puts on an award-winning show at a Neitherworld museum.

Gallery (BJ:AS)[]


Appearances[]

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